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Sergey Brin
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great moments in pr
Sergey Brin schools us on how to take a stand, boldly do nothing
CEOs and founders feeling hounded by pesky profit-hating humanitarians could learn a lesson or two from Google cofounder Sergey Brin. At Google's annual shareholder meeting yesterday, Amnesty International presented two shareholder proposals on behalf of the New York State Pension Funds involving Google's difficulties with China, privacy and censorship. Brin handled the PR mess, no problem. More »
money can't buy taste
Marissa Mayer's tasteless display of designer wealth
Google search czarina Marissa Mayer explains her "personal style philosophy" — or, at least, that of her personal shopper and the staff at Bergdorf's — in a comprehensive if hardly hard-hitting followup to the launch of iGoogle's designer themes in the Wall Street Journal. Yes, the woman who showed up to her first interview in a sweater from Macy's INC International Concepts line is being crowned as a new tastemaker. Even as the economy takes a nosedive, Mayer jokes about being an unrepentant label chaser: More »
great moments in hr
Google works really hard at making sure 25 percent of its engineers are women
Google's business goal is to organize the world's information. Ambitious. Google's goal for hiring women engineers? "We're very focused on having about 25 percent of our technical workforce be women," Google VP Marissa Mayer tells a Bay Area public-radio interviewer in this clip. Google's cupcake princess added that Sergey Brin — he's the cofounder she didn't date — and Larry Page — the one she did — came up with that target shortly after they founded the company.They'd read a lot of research around how to form the best companies and a lot of studies show that if you fall below 20 percent of the workforce being women, things become really imbalanced and unhealthy inside the corporate culture.The silver-lining: Now when Google apologists start going on about the company's "20 percent" rule, the rest of us get to ask: "Wait, which one?"
clips
Charlie Rose on Charlie Rose on the Internet, by Samuel Beckett
Over the years, Charlie Rose has hosted Silicon Valley titans like Wired editor Chris Anderson, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, and Google cofounder Sergey Brin on his late-night public television interview show. When Facebook launched its Beacon advertising program in New York, Rose played master of ceremonies. But not until now, with the discovery of this clip titled "'Charlie Rose' by Samuel Beckett," has Rose effectively explicated the industry. More »
rumormonger
Anne Wojcicki and Sergey Brin begin baby-making beta test, results expected in 9 months
Google cofounder Sergey Brin and his wife of nearly a year, Anne Wojcicki are expecting their first child, the New York Post screams. We're confident Wojcicki's easy access to DNA materials at her biotech firm 23andme will assure the creation of a much more attractive child than the one we've imagined here.
hubris
Google's earnings teach it all the wrong lessons
Shareholders will likely be relieved by Google's standout performance in the first quarter. The stock, which had been sinking like a rock, will almost certainly rebound. And Google's self-satisfied executive team will congratulate themselves once again. Hubris, reinforced by the numbers, reigns at the Googleplex. More »
live coverage
Google's first-quarter earnings
Pessimism has been replaced by optimism: After Google shares traded down 1.2 percent today, traders responded to the release of Google's first-quarter earnings by sending the shares up nearly 12 percent in after-hours trading, crossing $500. Fear, in short, has been replaced by greed. As I expected, the call was filled with chest-thumping glee from never-modest CEO Eric Schmidt. That's why I listen, by the way — not to hear numbers I could read in analyst reports, but to hear how Google's executives talk about the company on one of the brief occasions that they leave the bubble of the Googleplex. Live coverage, starting at 1:30 p.m. Pacific: More »
lazy valleywag
What's Sergey Brin doing with Arianna Huffington in Tahiti?
Google cofounder Sergey Brin is, two days away from his company's first-quarter earnings call, sunning himself in Tahiti. As is Greco-American blog tycoon Arianna Huffington and Wendi Deng, wife of News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch. Huffington is reportedly there on vacation, but it's a stretch to think Brin and Deng are also there by sheer coincidence. Anyone have a bead on what prompted the South Pacific power summit? Do let us know your theories.
failanthropy
At Google, failed entrepreneur Larry Brilliant to save the world with entrepreneurialism
Rolling Stone's profile of Google.org director Larry Brilliant presents a man with an unimpeachable reputation in public health and a decidedly impeachable one in private business. Since Google.org is run more like a venture fund than a traditional philanthropic foundation, the company's supposedly humanitarian work is expected to serve pecuniary self-interest. The RE<C project to replace coal with renewable energy sources could certainly prove quite profitable. But Brilliant's expertise is in epidemiology, and as anyone in big pharma can tell you, there's very little money to be made in curing diseases, especially in the developing world. The piece does have an interesting sidenote — Steve Jobs ran into Brilliant on his way to meet guru Neem Karoli Baba. Which explains where Jobs learned what it takes to lead a cult. (Photo by Pierre Omidyar)
politics
Zuckerberg, Decker and Brin walk into a Jerusalem bar...
Israeli president Shimon Peres has invited a number of luminaries to celebrate the country's 60th year of independence, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Yahoo president Sue Decker and Google cofounder Sergey Brin. They'll be discussing technology as part of the Facing Tomorrow conference in May. Zuckerberg's Facebook has been drawn into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict already, and is also banned in nearby Syria, so at least he has some relevant geopolitical experience. More »
poll
Rerank the geeks on the 100 Unsexiest Men list
Yahoo's new site for women, Shine, began life with a link to The Phoenix's 100 Unsexiest Men of The Year. OK, fine, we clicked. But then we were astounded to find the list contained only 4 percent geek. Further, the unattractiveness of those who made the list, such Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, was, frankly, insultingly underrated. Also, the whole list was out of order. Below, a poll where you can help us rerank both the geeks already on the list, and those who should have made it. Rachel Marsden, your assistance in this matter would be appreciated. More »
jackpot
Paying taxes is for the little people who earn wages
Disgraced stock analyst Henry Blodget has found a new reason to fawn over the Valley's billionaires: Jerry Yang, Steve Jobs, and Larry and Sergey pay themselves $1 salaries. Hank, haven't you heard that there's a crisis in Social Security? The $1 salary is the perfect combination of tax dodge and publicity stunt. Jerry, Steve, and the Google boys pay 6 cents of their buck towards Social Security, and a penny for Medicare. Those taxes aren't charged on investment income — the kind generated when a founder sells his shares. "It would be nice if we started to see the same gesture from chief executives in the rest of corporate America," writes Blodget. Sure, if you want to make sure the rest of us get nothing when we retire.
online advertising
Meet the truck that fuels your Prius
General Motor's top-selling 8 cylinder, 6 liter Chevy Silverado gets a tree-hating 13 miles per gallon driving around the streets of San Francisco. Accelerate too hard in one of these babies and the atmosphere might just whip up another Katrina right then and there. GM's top seller: It's a monstrosity. It's a perversion of engineering. It's paying Silicon Valley's bills. According to ComScore, General Motors bought 1,687,065,000 pageviews in January 2008, leading auto manufactures online. Toyota, which manufactures Sergey Brin's favorite, the sippy-cup Prius, only shelled out enough to reach about 60 percent as many unique visitors.
journalist math
If you round up, Larry Page turns 40 today
Born on March 26, 1973, Google cofounder Larry Page turns 35 today. Maybe wife Lucy will get Larry some jewelry to match Sergey's. (Photo by dannysullivan)
larry and sergey
Schmidt: Page and Brin are all grown up now
"I was brought in as sort of a father figure — somebody who has a lot of operating experience — because [Google] at the time was very small and basically right out of Stanford," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a press conference in Australia yesterday.[But] Larry and Sergey are now adult leaders of a god knows how many billion-dollar valuation company and have done it for a long time.(Photo by jdlasica)
filthy rich
Mark Zuckerberg and 46 others make up the Bay Area billionaires list
Who's the richest billionaire in the Bay Area? No surprise here: Oracle founder and yachting enthusiast Larry Ellison, is the 14th wealthiest in the world (which must grate on him something fierce) with $25 billion. Trailing him are a trio of Googlers, Larry and Sergey with almost $19 billion each and CEO Eric Schmidt with $6.6 billion. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the youngest billionaire is pegged at $1.5 billion and outgoing eBay CEO Meg Whitman, one of only 99 women on the list, has $1.3 billion. Other local billionaires include Steve Jobs, Charles Schwab and George Lucas. Grab the full list from Forbes.
your privacy is an illusion
Genetics research + online health profiles = burgers
With the launch of Google's health data service, we're going to set aside our skepticism for a moment and think about what this could potentially mean for society. Nah, screw society — for me personally. Google cofounder Sergey Brin invested in his wife's genetics research startup. 23andMe takes cheek swabs from customers and spits out their genetic history. Board member Esther Dyson writes:a second goal of 23andMe [is] to collect a large database of genetic information and then come back to you over time with invitations to provide specific health data and participate in research.Combining these data sets — health histories and extensive genetics information — could lead to significant breakthroughs in predicting future health issues. I think this means I can eat all the Yahoo burgers I want without worrying!
